Cross-Cultural Communication

Business Training

In the age of globalisation it has become essential that staff in internationally oriented companies and organisations should have a range of intercultural skills. These expectations often present a great challenge to those concerned.

Intercultural skills mean more than understanding or speaking a foreign language. Staff must to be able to behave and communicate exactly in a foreign cultural environment as a native would do. This necessitates an in-depth understanding of the particular culture and its modes of behaviour, its mentality and its customs. This knowledge then has to be correctly applied in every-day situations. People with good intercultural skills also possess a pronounced ability to empathise, are interested, flexible and open.

The acquisition of intercultural skills means that the person must be willing to change his or her own way of behaviour and requires a sufficient degree of sensitivity when dealing with other people.

In daily business dealings intercultural skills facilitate interpersonal relationships and promote understanding and a sense of satisfaction on both sides of the cultural divide. This lays the foundation for the successful working together of people from different cultural backgrounds.

Our intercultural training offers you and your staff the opportunity to become acquainted with and appreciate the peculiarities and behaviour of people from other cultures.

The following brief list gives you some examples which make it clear that small details mean a lot when dealing with other cultures.

Business relations:

In Poland make sure you get the right number of flowers in a bouquet because only an equal number of flowers will bring good luck.

In Great Britain, loyalty is a big factor. For British people a business decision, once taken, is absolutely binding. Do not expect any further discussions or any big changes.

In France, great value is placed on personal contact. It pays to invest sufficient time in building up a relationship with your counterpart.

In Arab countries, if you open negotiations too quickly, then your talks are doomed to failure. Arab people place great store on getting to know the person they are to do business with. Before they start to negotiate, they like to talk about the family, children etc. So let the host bring up the business at his leisure.